The Marketing Plan Handbook
Develop Big-Picture Marketing Plans for Pennies on the Dollar
Robert W. Bly PRESS PRESS P Second Edition
ix CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..........................................................................xv PREFACE ...............................................................................................xvii INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................xxi What’s in a Marketing Plan? ..........................................................xxii Benefits of Creating a Marketing Plan .........................................xxiii How This Book Works ......................................................................xxv Quick-Start Guide ...........................................................................xxvi Chapter 1 HARNESS THE POWER OF VISION ..........................................................1 What Is Your Vision? ...........................................................................2 Design Your Business to Deliver the Lifestyle You Seek .........................................................................3 Begin with the End in Mind ...............................................................4 Paint a Picture of the Possible ............................................................5 Use a Vision Board to Make It Clearer ...............................................7 Let Your Vision Protect You from Making Bad Decisions .................8 Chapter 2 DECIDE WHAT BUSINESS YOU’RE IN ...................................................13 Crafting Your Elevator Pitch .............................................................13 Choosing Your Niche ........................................................................15 Creating a Business to Fulfill Your Vision ........................................16
x MARKETING PLAN HANDBOOK Chapter 3 GET TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER .........25 Qualifying Prospects .........................................................................27 Create a Customer Database ............................................................29 Climbing the Loyalty Ladder ............................................................32 Data Modeling ..................................................................................33 Know Your Customers’ “Core Buying Complex”: The BDF Formula ............................................................................34 What Do I Want to Know about My Ideal Client? ..........................37 Marketing to the Government ........................................................40 Know the Lifetime Value of Your Ideal Client ................................42 Know Why Your Client Buys .............................................................43 Know What Benefits Mean the Most to Your Client ......................45 Know the Steps in Your Clients’ Buying Process .............................45 Know What You Can Learn from Your Current Clients ..................46 Chapter 4 WHO IS THE COMPETITION? ................................................................51 The Three Sources of Competition ..................................................52 SWOT Analysis ...................................................................................53 Monitoring the Competition ...........................................................53 Who Is Your Top Competitor? ..........................................................54 Look for the Gaps in Service to Your Niche .....................................54 Chapter 5 STRATEGIZE: POSITION YOUR BUSINESS .............................................61 Bull’s-Eye: Position Your Business .....................................................61 How to Build a Stronger USP ...........................................................63 Pick Your Place on the Positioning Spectrum ..................................67 Offer Proof for Your Positioning Statement and USP ....................68 Testimonials: The Quickest, Most Powerful Way to Support Your USP .............................................70 Describe What You Want to Accomplish this Year .........................71 Your Business at a Glance: The Capabilities Brochure ....................74 Chapter 6 BUILD OUT YOUR PRODUCT LINE ........................................................83 Creating New Products .....................................................................86
xi Contents Features and Benefits .......................................................................89 Turn Product Flaws into Selling Points ............................................91 Buying Motivations ...........................................................................92 Pricing ................................................................................................94 Recurring Revenues ........................................................................101 Chapter 7 ASSESS YOUR TACTICS .......................................................................103 Determine the Response You Want from Your Prospect .............103 Decide Which Marketing Tactics Will Best Support Your Strategy ........................................................106 Tactics that Reach Your Target Market ..........................................109 Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing Tactics .....................................111 The Rebirth of Direct Mail ..............................................................117 A Word about Branding .................................................................119 Marketing in Larger Companies ....................................................120 Chapter 8 INTEGRATE ONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING ................................125 Sequences ........................................................................................125 Email Marketing ............................................................................127 SEO Your Website ...........................................................................132 Five Steps to Building Your E-List ...................................................135 Blogging ..........................................................................................140 Social Media ....................................................................................142 Chapter 9 PUT YOUR MEASUREMENTS IN PLACE ...............................................143 What Metrics Should You Measure? ..............................................145 Using Google Analytics ...................................................................146 Calculating Return on Marketing Dollars (ROMD) .......................148 Calculating and Measuring Return on Time Invested (ROTI) .......150 Measuring Web Metrics..................................................................152 Marketing Performance Reporting ...............................................160 Determine How Often to Review the Data ...................................161 Chapter 10 WRITE YOUR PLAN ..............................................................................165 Write It Down to Get It Done ........................................................167
xii MARKETING PLAN HANDBOOK Create a One-Year Plan ..................................................................170 Budget .............................................................................................173 Plot Major Campaigns First ............................................................176 Break It Down .................................................................................180 Chapter 11 WORK IT!—IMPLEMENTATION ...........................................................189 Budgeting Your Plan .......................................................................190 Tactical Execution............................................................................195 Preventing Marketing Bottlenecks ................................................196 Improving Quality and Results .......................................................196 Cost Control ....................................................................................197 Copy: The Foundation of Implementation ....................................198 Schedule Your Action Steps for the Next 30 Days ........................205 Chapter 12 REVIEW AND TROUBLESHOOT YOUR PLAN ......................................209 What You Should Review ..............................................................211 A Sales Tactic for Overcoming Price Resistance.............................212 Testing Your Marketing Campaigns ..............................................214 How to Troubleshoot Your Plan .....................................................216 What to Do When Your Marketing Is Not Working .....................217 How to Keep Working Your Plan ...................................................218 Chapter 13 CONTENT MARKETING........................................................................221 White Papers ...................................................................................222 Case Studies .....................................................................................225 Special Reports ................................................................................227 Minibooks ........................................................................................228 Audio-Visual Presentations ............................................................229 Infographics ....................................................................................230 Blogs ................................................................................................232 Enewsletters ....................................................................................233 How to Double Your Responses with Content Marketing ...........235 Finding Content Sources ................................................................236 The Four R’s of Content Management ..........................................238 Content Curation ............................................................................240
xiii Contents Chapter 14 MOBILE MARKETING...........................................................................243 Plan Your Mobile Strategy .............................................................247 No Website? Choose Your Mobile Website Configuration ......................................................251 Already Have a Website? It’s High Time to Make It Mobile-Friendly ..............................................................252 Avoid These Common Mobile Website Mistakes ..........................254 Getting the Most from Mobile Email ............................................255 Adhere to Mobile Email Best Practices ..........................................257 Test, Learn, and Improve ................................................................260 Chapter 15 SOCIAL NETWORKING ........................................................................261 How Social Networks Can Help Build Your Business ....................263 Five Steps to Crafting Your Social Marketing Plan .......................266 Measure, Monitor, and Grow Your Online Influence ..................268 The Top Social Networks ................................................................271 Don’t Think Twice ...........................................................................284 Appendix A FORMS AND WORKSHEETS ................................................................287 Step 1: Write Your Vision Statement .............................................287 Step 2: Describe Your Niche ...........................................................288 Step 3: Identify Your Ideal Client ...................................................289 Step 4: Describe the Competition ..................................................294 Step 5: Strategize ............................................................................297 Step 6: Identify the Tactics You’ll Use ............................................299 Step 7: Put Your Measurements in Place .......................................300 Step 8: Write Your Plan ..................................................................300 Step 9: Implement ...........................................................................303
B MODEL MARKETING PLAN ..................................................................305 Chiropractic Marketing Plans Inc.’s Marketing Plan .....................305 Appendix C MARKETING CONSULTANTS .........................................................................321
Appendix
xiv MARKETING PLAN HANDBOOK Working with, or Becoming, a Marketing Consultant .................321 Why There Is High Demand for Marketing Consultants ..............322 What Is Marketing Consulting? .....................................................323 What Skills Are Required to Be a Successful Marketing Consultant? ..............................................323 Fees for Marketing Plan Writers ....................................................325 When the Marketing Plan Is Part of a Business Plan ....................325 Appendix D SOURCES AND RESOURCES ................................................................327 References ......................................................................................327 Associations .....................................................................................328 Books ...............................................................................................329 Directories .......................................................................................329 Mailing Lists ....................................................................................330 Planning Software ..........................................................................330 Marketing and Business Enewsletters ...........................................331 Periodicals .......................................................................................331 Websites ..........................................................................................333 Appendix E GLOSSARY ...........................................................................................335 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ..........................................................................353 INDEX ...................................................................................................355
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, thanks to Lura Harrison for researching, writing, and editing significant portions of this book. This is truly our book, not just my book—a total collaboration.
Second, as always, thanks to Bob Diforio, my literary agent, for finding a great publisher to produce this book with us.
Third, thanks to Jill McTigue and Karen Billipp, editors of this updated second edition, for giving the book new life and new value.
Thanks also to Mark Amtower, Roger C. Parker, and others who permitted me to reprint their writings or otherwise share their marketing expertise in this book.
A tip of the hat to Jennifer Holmes for her work on chapter 13, and the same to Kim Stacey for her help on chapters 14 and 15.
And thanks to my editor on the first edition, Jere Calmes, for believing in our idea and for making the book much better than it was when it first crossed his desk.
xv
PREFACE
America is not only the land of the free, but also of the entrepreneur: There are almost 28 million small businesses in the United States. Of these, over 22 million are self-employed solopreneurs, and a little over half work at home. By comparison, a mere 17,700 firms in America have 500 employees or more. Small business is where it’s at.
More than half a million new businesses are started each month. Of these, 1 out of 4 will stay in business 16 years or more. Small businesses employ half of all people who work in the private sector and have generated up to 80 percent of the net growth in jobs in the United States over the last decade or so.
Most people, when they go into a business, think that if they are good at what they do, they will be successful. For instance, if they are a photographer, they believe that all they have to do is take good pictures and they will have more business than they can handle. Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t work out that way at all.
There are legions of small-business owners, especially in service industries, who are technically competent or even excellent at their professions, yet earn only a modest living at best. That’s because they don’t know the ultimate secret to achieving outrageous success in any business: Those who make the most money in any profession or service business, from accountants and ad agencies to window washers and web designers, are those who are the best at marketing
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and selling themselves—not at performing the actual function or service.
Doctors, attorneys, and other professionals have traditionally held the opposite point of view. They criticize competitors who advertise, saying, “If your product or service was any good, you wouldn’t have to promote it with such hype.” Nice to think so, but naïve. Sad to say, it doesn’t work that way in the real world. “The expression ‘If you build it, they will come’ is not true,” said Steve Murphy, former CEO of publisher Rodale Inc., in an interview with Fast Company magazine. “We had lots of great properties at Rodale, but not enough of them were known. We needed to expose them to the mass market.”
So, how do you make the transition from struggling or average entrepreneur to the top of your profession in terms of income, success, clientele, and prestige? Well, you can start with the simple, commonsense 12-step process for creating and implementing a winning marketing plan presented in this book! Over the years, I’ve shared my battle-tested marketing methods—in books, articles, blogs, seminars, webinars, consultations, and countless promotions and campaigns—with thousands of copywriters, graphic designers, consultants, self-employed service professionals, manufacturers, small-business owners, marketing professionals, and corporate clients. Those who apply these techniques consistently enjoy a number of benefits, including increased income, elimination of slow periods, greater cash flow, and enhanced prestige and status within their market or industry.
This second edition follows but also expands on the proven 12-step process introduced in the first. It gives you more in-depth advice and coverage on the hottest marketing trends to emerge within the last decade, including data analytics, content marketing, mobile marketing, social networking, infographics, search engine optimization, and more.
I do have one favor to ask. If you have a marketing method or campaign that has worked particularly well for your business, why
xviii MARKETING PLAN HANDBOOK
not send it to me so I can share it with readers of the next edition of this book? You can reach me at:
Bob Bly
Copywriter/Consultant
31 Cheyenne Dr. Montville, NJ 07045
Phone: (973) 263-0562; Fax: (973) 263-0613
Email: rwbly@bly.com
Web: www.bly.com
xix Preface
A WINNING MARKETING PLAN!
Successful marketing expert and copywriter Robert W. Bly cuts through the clutter of short-lived marketing techniques and trendy gimmicks to reveal the critical steps you need to cross over from business owner to marketplace competitor.
Dishing bite-sized lessons, supported by in-chapter exercises and end-ofchapter actions, Bly coaches you in creating an effective marketing plan that produces the results of an expensive marketing consultant without the hefty cost.
Learn how to:
• Develop a clear business vision
• Position your business and services strategically
• Research your market and target your ideal client
• Integrate online and offline marketing
• Put measurements in place to assess marketing tactics
• Create an effective implementation schedule
• Review and troubleshoot for future success and growth
Whether embarking on a new venture or reviving your current business plan, this practical handbook provides the next steps toward business success and survival.
Robert W. Bly is an independent copywriter and marketing consultant with more than 35 years of experience in businessto-business and direct response marketing. He has worked with over 100 clients including IBM, AT&T, Embraer Executive Jet, Intuit, Boardroom, Grumman and more. He is the author of 85 books and he currently writes regular columns for Target Marketing Magazine and The Direct Response Letter.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59918-599-0
ISBN-10: 1-59918-559-8
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Cover design by: Kaochoy Saeteurn
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